June, July and August Events Cancelled

As the Covid-19 pandemic shows no sign of abating soon, all my previously scheduled poetry events for June, July and August are cancelled and/or postponed until further notice. I am seriously considering cancelling all my events for the rest of 2020 as well, but for now I remain in a wait-and-see holding pattern.

Video: Live at the National Beat Poetry Festival, 8/31/2019

Here I am on the second day of the National Beat Poetry Festival on Saturday 31 August 2019 in New Hartford, Connecticut. In this clip Debbie Tosun Kilday, the CEO of the National Beat Poetry Foundation, presents me with the Ohio Beat Poet Laureate Award for 2019-2021, and then I read two signature poems, "Bloodshot" and "Lens."

Video by U.S. Beat Poet Laureate Paul Richmond of Human Error Publishing.
Festival hosted by Shaw Israel Izikson & Debbie Tosun Kilday.

Video permalink: https://youtu.be/ovt465FqtPc.

photo by Tammi Truax

More videos are available and/or forthcoming on the National Beat Poetry Foundation's YouTube channel.

Rattle and Numb Live #4: "Bloodshot"

Episode #4 features the 4th poem from my Rattle and Numb: New and Selected Poems, 1992-2019.

You can order a copy from almost any place good books are sold, including your favorite independent bookstore and venetianspiderpress.com. And please subscribe to my YouTube channel.

Video permalink: https://youtu.be/xGtFhaJVMcs.

Bloodshot

Indian summer sun squints,
bloodshot like the wide wounded eyes
of my cynical Seneca ancestors.
On and on and anon,
an endless queue of unrelenting conquistadors,
lusting for booty or bust,
defile our trust and defame the name of God
in the name of God.
Opportunity does not knock for trusting tribesmen,
be they from Arizona, Africa, the Amazon or Akron.
Riding roughshod over every allegedly endless empire
including America the beautifully dutiful,
The cursed hearse of history leads a parade
of pathetic and unsympathetic plotters,
plodders, priests and presidents, electable eels
who feel their forked tongues and dung
make them agents of distinction,
instead of extinction.
Sweetly sighing lullabies of liberty
and expediency,
these leaders open their bomb bays as they pray,
first for the unconditional surrender of their enemies
and last, if at all, for the bloodshot
souls of the soon to be charred
children of Hiroshima, Hanoi
Belfast, Belgrade, Baghdad, Bethlehem
New York City and coming soon
to a theatre of war near you.

Named Literary Artist of The Month by Heights Arts

Some good news in the midst of this pandemic: I am honored and grateful to have been selected as Heights Arts' Literary Artist of the Month for May 2020!

https://www.heightsarts.org/artist-of-month/artist-of-the-month-literary-7

Rattle and Numb Live #3: "Karma Souptra"

While quarantined at home, I started a new video series, "Rattle & Numb Live." Here's episode #3, featuring the 3rd poem in my recently published Selected and New Poems, "Karma Souptra" (from 2009).

For more about the book, Rattle and Numb: New and Selected Poems, 1992-2019, visit https://venetianspiderpress.com. And please subscribe to my YouTube channel as well.

Video permalink: https://youtu.be/PI7yGsPltQU.

Karma Souptra

Tin can karma
In a cemetery green sedan
Drives into the past
Through the future
Running round and round
And over and over
The illusory track of time
Like a bomb
That never goes off
Like a song that rings
In Campbell's soup cans
Round and round the rims
Not going out or in
Just sticking to the circuit
Like a one ring soup can
Gerbil wheel circus
Till the tin finally erodes
The illusion of time caves in
And full circle
Cemetery green
Karma darts to the next can
In the aisle of now
  

Burroughs, Babcock and Kahl: 11/9/2019 at the Avon Lake Library

On November 9th, I had the pleasure of being part of the Avon Lake Public Library​'s Read Write Local program. Avon Lake Community Television recently broadcast highlights of the day, including this clip where local poets Monica Weber Babcock, Lisa Kahl and I read from our latest works and answer questions about writing, publishing, and performing poetry. Special thanks to librarian and moderator Gerry Vogel. (The three poems I read in this clip are "Kiss, "Dry Cast" and "Lens.")

Read Write Local Part 2: Poetic Champions Compose from Avon Lake Community Television on Vimeo.

Video permalinks:

https://www.avonlake.org/departments/community-television/online-shows?action=show&category_id=34&video=MTA4Mw==

https://vimeo.com/392775136

Kristen Scott reviews my Rattle and Numb in Knot Magazine

Something to smile about today! Many thanks to Kristen D. Scott and Knot Magazine for reviewing my latest book, Rattle and Numb [from Venetian Spider Press] in their new Spring 2020 issue.

Read the review at https://www.knotliteraturemagazine.com/kristen-d-scott-john-burroughs-revi.

Read the entire issue at https://www.knotliteraturemagazine.com.

Assiduous Dust podcast featuring S.A. Griffin and John Burroughs

I very much enjoyed talking with Joshua Corwin recently for his Assiduous Dust podcast and then listening to his interview with the legendary S.A. Griffin on that same episode. It's available via Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts and more. In my segment, I read three poems, including my recent "Random Rules" (after David Berman). Thank you, Josh!​

Listen: https://anchor.fm/joshua-corwin/episodes/Assiduous-Dust-5-S-A--Griffin--John-Burroughs-ebool3.

My April Events Postponed

Due to the Covid-19 crisis and Ohio's stay-at home order, all of my April events are cancelled. I am hopeful we will be able to reschedule the ones in Buffalo, in Pomeroy and at the Lakewood Public Library for later this year. Stay tuned....

[UPDATE: My May events were cancelled as well.]

Rattle and Numb Live #2: "John Cage Engaged and Uncaged"

While quarantined at home, I started a new video series, "Rattle & Numb Live." Here's episode #2, featuring the 2nd poem in my latest book. It's my most known poem, from 2008, but still fits me like a pair of chaps.

For more about the book, Rattle and Numb: New and Selected Poems, 1992-2019, visit https://venetianspiderpress.com. And please subscribe to my YouTube channel as well.

Video permalink: https://youtu.be/Af1JksoTf1s.